Immersing oneself in air frozen to as low as -160C has its sporting champions including Leicester City and the Welsh rugby team but does it stand up to scientific scrutiny? What do sports stars Cristiano Ronaldo, Jamie Vardy and Sam Warburton have in common? It is nothing to do with goals, tries or fast cars. All three regularly undergo whole-body cryotherapy, an extreme-cold treatment that proponents say can speed recovery, reduce injuries, increase energy and improve sleep. Two major sporting achievements have helped drive a boom in its use. Some saw it as a decisive factor in the Welsh rugby union team reaching the 2011 World Cup semi-finals, while others believe it helped Leicester City overcome odds of 5,000-1 to win last seasons Premier League title. Today, it is used at the top level in many sports and is increasingly being marketed to keen amateurs seeking an edge. Beauty salons and spas claim it can burn calories, improve our skin and make us happier. Almost inevitably, Lindsay Lohan, Jennifer Aniston and Daniel Craig are reported to be fans. So far, so profitable. But does whole-body cryotherapy work? Or more realistically, are the claims made for it supported by sound scientific evidence? If you have ever put a bag of frozen peas on an injury, you have used cryotherapy. The use of cold in medicine has a long history, from freezing warts and killing cancer cells, to slowing metabolic processes during trauma surgery. Whole-body cryotherapy takes place in saunastyle, walk-in chambers, with sessions normally lasting just two or three minutes. Those using liquid nitrogen to cool the air inside them can get down as low as -160C. First developed in Japan, the therapy arrived in Europe in the 80s. In Poland, it is used to treat many conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, sleep disorders and depression. It helps recovery and rehabilitation processes, says Ian Saunders, co-founder of CryoAction, a UK company that supplies many top rugby and football teams with cryotherapy facilities. Vasoconstriction reduces blood flow to the extremities, which reduces inflammation around softtissue injuries, stopping them progressing. The release of adrenalin relieves pain and generates the feelings of exhilaration that players report. Too cold for comfort? A woman in a cryotherapy chamber. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo The evidence from scientific studies, however, is mixed. In 2015, a small German study found endurance athletesconcluded there was insufficient evidence to support its use to relieve muscle soreness after exercise. We saw some potential in the initial evidence of beneficial effects, but until more evidence and better-quality studies are published, we cant say for sure whether it is effective or not, says Dr Joseph Costello, lead author of the Cochrane review and senior lecturer in exercise physiology at the University of Portsmouth.
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Proponents say whole-body cryotherapy activates the bodys fight or flight mechanisms, driving extra energy to muscles and narrowing blood vessels so that fewer inflammation-causing white blood cells reach injuries. Extreme cold may have some of these effects, but some of the claims made for the treatment on this basis are extrapolations based on flimsy and often contradictory evidence. Another company, 111Cryo, has launched 3-minute whole-body cryotherapy sessions in both Harvey Nichols and Harrods in London in the last year, claiming these can boost focus, determination and energy levels, as well as improving skin tone and burning up to 800 calories.One French study found the therapy had no significant effect on adrenalin levels. Some research has suggested itincreasing testosterone, butfalls of up to 12C on the skin.greater drops in tissue temperatures and bloodflow than those who did whole body cryotherapy at -110C for two minutes. So if greater effects can be achieved with cold water, why bother with whole body cryotherapy? Were yet to find anybody who says they prefer the invasive, penetrative cold of cold water immersion to being in a cryotherapy chamber, says Saunders. So what does it actually feel like? I went to the Saracens rugby union team training ground in St Albans to find out. Bare-chested and in shorts, knee-length socks, a woolly hat, gloves and a face mask, I spent two-and-a-half minutes in a CryoAction chamber, which reached -125C. It was cold, similar to being near an open chest freezer. Ifelt no exhilaration and my aches from a run the previous day were stillpresent two days later. Perhaps my problem was scepticism. Research has shown that when patients attend a medical facility and are told a procedure can reduce pain, this
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